In the next few months, the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport plans to release a long-awaited final environmental impact report outlining how air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and other contentious issues will be addressed if the airport gets approval to modernize and further develop the aging aviation hub.
The airport wants to upgrade its two existing terminals and build a new terminal with up to 16 new gates, update its decades-old facilities to meet evolving aviation industry standards, and improve operational efficiency and safety for passengers and employees.
The airport’s footprint will not expand under the new proposal as existing facilities will be razed to make room for the expansion of international arrival areas. Parking lots and roadways will also get a makeover.
Since the draft environmental impact report was released more than a year ago, community pushback, led by the Stop OAK Expansion Coalition, has increased with protests at Port of Oakland board meetings. The coalition — made up of 78 environmental justice, climate, labor, public health, medical and religious groups — has organized an opposition petition and a vocal media outreach campaign.
Airport officials say more than 1,000 residents, business owners and activists have submitted comments about the environmental report, mainly concerned with potential increases in poor air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and noise if the project is built.
At Thursday’s meeting of the port’s Board of Commissioners, members of the Bay Area-based activist group 1,000 Grandmothers brought towering puppets symbolizing “Mother Earth” and outlined their main opposition to the project, which focuses on greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our Earth mother is sick and she has a fever. She is out of balance and struggling to support life. Our climate is collapsing,’’ group member Peggy Merz said at the meeting. “Our children want to live, they want a healthy future with clean water and clean air, a healthy Earth that supports life.”
The grandmothers are the latest in a long line of people who have testified before the commission in opposition to the multimillion-dollar proposal to modernize and develop the airport. East Oakland residents, environmentalists, airport workers, climate activists and others have taken the podium this year to protest the airport’s plans.
“The climate crisis can no longer be denied or passed off as a hoax. Anyone who goes outside knows things have changed and are continuing to do so at a frighteningly fast pace,’’ said expansion opponent Jeff Beeman, a retired scientist. “We need to break through our complacency, denial, justifications for inaction, and our fear of economic turbulence as soon as possible or we are going to leave the next generations a horrible mess and rob them of their chance for a beautiful life.”
Colleen Liang, the airport’s director of environmental programs and planning, said the airport has already completed an inventory of emissions from equipment and operations and has started talking to airlines about using sustainable fuel.
Alameda County public officials are among those who have expressed concerns about the project’s pollution impact.
The Alameda County Health Department, in a letter to the port, said East Oakland residents, many within the airport flight path, are hospitalized or taken to an emergency room for asthma three times more often than people in other parts of Alameda County.
The health department has urged the port to complete a health impact assessment before it publishes the final environmental impact report by the end of the year to document potential health impacts on communities surrounding the airport. It plans to do the same for airport workers.
But airport officials say that even with the expansion, they are targeting a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from airport operations by 2030, with plans to reach zero emissions by 2040. Plans to reduce emissions include a switch to sustainable aviation fuel for airlines, a new electric bus fleet, a solar installation and other measures.
Plans for modernization come as the airport works to recruit and retain passengers following a sharp decline during the coronavirus pandemic. Officials say passenger traffic is at roughly 82% of its pre-pandemic numbers.
Airport officials say the expansion project is needed to meet increasing air travel demand, but data found on the Port of Oakland’s website shows that passenger traffic grew by less than 1% in 2023 compared to a year earlier. Data for fiscal year 2024 shows that passenger traffic actually dropped by nearly 4% when compared to the same time period a year earlier. A forecast for the fiscal year 2024 predicted a 4.3% growth in passenger traffic. The Port of Oakland manages and operates the airport.
This project “is about a forecast” in travel, said Craig Simon, the airport’s director of aviation. “It projects out into the future and in order to do that we have to make upgrades now.”
The airport blames the decline in air travel, especially business travel, on workers increasingly using virtual meeting applications such as Zoom and Teams, coupled with people not returning to offices or taking meetings that require air travel following the pandemic.
Modernizing and expanding the airport is just one component of a campaign to increase passenger bookings. Over the last three years, the airport has added five new airlines with services to Latin American and U.S. destinations.
In April, Oakland International Airport rebranded itself to become San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, a move that was part of a broader effort by the airport to attract more domestic and international flights. An upgrade of the Terminal 1 check-in lobby and the addition of new concessions and restaurants were also part of the effort.
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